Soundtrack Music – ruminations, reviews and interviews

From Lakeshore press release:“A pitch black, wryly British comedy, PREVENGE follows Ruth, played by Alice Lowe,a pregnant woman on a killing spree that’s as funny as it is vicious. It’s her misanthropic unborn baby dictating Ruth’s actions, holding society responsible for the absence of a father. The child speaks to Ruth from the womb, coaching her to lure and ultimately kill her unsuspecting victims. PREVENGE marks the directorial debut from Lowe, who is a true triple threat, writing, directing, and acting in the film during her own real-life pregnancy. PREVENGE is Alice’s directorial feature debut. She wrote, starred in, and directed it whilst 7-8 months pregnant with her first child, who also appears in the film. Alice was one of the BIFA nominees for ‘best debut director’.”

I became an Alice Lowe fan with the film Sightseers [2012] , and as I have just a teeny weeny, ever so so slight ‘connection’ to her as she went to school with a cousin of mine [I said it was slight :-)], it’s only fair that I should review the films soundtrack. Here’s a little bit of info on Toy drum from the press release:

“Toydrum are a duo who sneak into the consciousness. Not for them the full frontal assault but, instead, a drip-feed of classy work that many may know without knowing. Their hugely acclaimed work with the late singer-songwriter Gavin Clark lit up Shane Meadows’ ‘This Is England ‘90’, their rework of John Lennon’s ‘How Do You Sleep’ led Noel Gallagher to have them remix his High Flying Birds hit ‘In The Heat of the Moment’ (which, in turn, soundtracked last year’s epic ad for the latest ‘Assassin’s Creed’ game), and their soundtracks for films such as the recent Tye Sheridan-starring thriller ‘Detour’ and Alice Lowe’s 2016 Venice Film Festival opener, ‘Prevenge’, have broadened their appeal further.”

Intriguing! As is the soundtrack. It starts appropriately with Intro which is as disconnected as you can get with a pulse running through it which perhaps is the baby’s heart. Biological Clockwork (The Train) is where we are introduced to the voice of the unborn baby saying “It’s OK, I’m here”. The rhythm of the synths obviously suggests the motion of the train with a splendid flurry of 80’s style synth. Fury Pt 1 & 2[Rework] is dominated by deep bass with a flat, synth chime which resonates that ‘something is not quite right” … putting it mildly. Have to say that this a track which will be loaded on to my non-film playlist!

We get to the darkness in Visions Of (Nice Guy Josh)/Killing For Two, the first half is a cold eerie sound palette with a siren sound which is still there but comes in after a childlike toy sound. Climbing The Walls (Pt 1] also has a pulse but this time it sounds like a chilling, muted voice tying to say something. Crazy Bitch/Hormonal Bliss had me laughing at the very start due to the baby voice saying “Do it, do it now” but then it goes into a rich, deep synth riff which I wanted to hear more of but as with quite a few of the tracks ,they have 2 or 3 cues in 1 track. I guess it’s because they would be too short on their own.

Mostly mood tracks with bursts of great synth, all enhanced with the baby voice starting off some tracks. It creates exactly what is required – fear, madness, disconnectedness. I longed for more of the deep synths but’s that just my love of them, this is a solid thriller/horror score which paints only one colour – BLACK!